ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 13, 1996 TAG: 9602130110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
It felt like spring Friday as Valerie Cole finished her classes at Radford University and settled into her suitemates' dormitory room in Peery Hall.
The 18-year-old freshman talked excitedly about the weekend ahead, especially the impending visit of her first-semester roommate, who had left Radford and moved home to Northern Virginia.
She marveled at the beautiful weather - the first warm, sunny day after a week of cold and snow. Phish, her favorite rock group, played in the background throughout the afternoon.
"She could see the ground on Friday," said Robin Gardner, Cole's friend and suitemate. "We opened all the windows. I let her play Phish. I don't even like Phish."
Gardner, who spent Friday afternoon with Cole, is fiercely holding on to those memories of her friend. Cole was found dead in her room Saturday morning.
An autopsy was performed Monday morning, but Dr. David Oxley, deputy chief medical examiner, is awaiting laboratory test results before releasing the cause of death. There were no signs of physical injury or foul play.
Test results will not be known for a week at the earliest. In the meantime, the university plans a news conference today to release more details about Cole's death.
Cole's friends, however, are focusing on their memories of Cole, not her death. They want people to know about the business Cole planned to open, her support and love of others, the way she would say "right on, sister" or "rock on" whenever someone had good news.
"Everything that happened to anyone else, she was so excited," said Erin Kilby, Cole's other suitemate. "To me, she was the most unselfish person."
During their first semester, all four suitemates - including Shelly Wright, the one who left Radford - had formed a club called the "Secret Society of Lovely Ladies."
"We made pacts, just certain things in our lives we wouldn't do without the other," Gardner said.
It was Wright who found Cole Saturday morning. On waking, Wright realized her former roommate was not breathing, Gardner said. The two had gone out the night before, but Gardner said she did not know where they went.
The university's emergency medical services team arrived almost immediately after Gardner called for help at 10:32 a.m., but Cole was dead. Circumstances surrounding Cole's death are unclear, even to Gardner and Kilby.
Monday afternoon, they sat in their room with friends and reminisced. In better times their room served as the hall's social center - the place to talk, smoke and relax. The door between their room and Cole's was never locked until now.
Friends have decorated Cole's door with pictures, poems and messages. Two pictures of the late Jerry Garcia, of her beloved Grateful Dead, were pasted on the doorway. Six bouquets of flowers leaned against the door.
Kilby, who wore a necklace Cole had lent her, remembered saying goodbye Friday to her friend before leaving for a weekend trip to Tennessee.
"It wasn't like she said, 'I'll see you on Sunday,''' Kilby said. "It was just, 'bye.' It was beautiful. I'll always remember that."
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB